Columnists
Friday, June 26, 2026 · Alamosa County
The Affirmation That Actually Works Starts with Saying No
Most affirmations fail because they ask you to believe something you don't. Here's the one that changes everything—and why it works backward from what you'd expect.
Why We Keep Memorizing the Wrong Poems (And How to Fix It)
Your high school English teacher made you memorize "The Road Not Taken," but Robert Frost spent the last decades of his life furious that everyone missed the joke. Here's what we've all been getting wrong.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Dangerous Comfort of the Unfinished Sentence
We've turned incompleteness into a virtue, but Kafka's most unsettling insight was about what happens when we stop questioning the gaps in our understanding.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Fed Just Bet Everything on a Soft Landing That Nobody Believes Anymore
Jerome Powell lowered rates yesterday despite inflation still running hot. The stock market loved it. The bond market didn't. Somebody's about to be very wrong.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Stop Asking Dancers to Smile and Start Asking Why We Deserve Serious Art
Contemporary dance is finally allowed to be uncomfortable, challenging, and human—but audiences keep begging it to perform happiness instead of truth.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Dog Park Revolution Nobody Asked For (But Everyone Needed)
A retired engineer spent two years fighting city bureaucracy to build a dog park with actual drainage. Here's what that obsession taught us about getting things done.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Mercury's Trickster Tuesday: Watch Your Words (And Your WiFi)
The planet of communication is doing its best impression of a malfunctioning GPS, and one sign is about to learn why "reply all" exists as a cautionary tale.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Ichetucknee Gamble: Why Florida's Most Beautiful Spring Run Gets Crowded—and How to Actually Enjoy It
Crystal-clear water, lazy current, and 100 other paddlers in tubes. Here's what most people miss about Florida's most Instagram-famous spring run—and why you should go anyway.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Single-Leg Deadlift Will Fix Your Broken Walking Pattern
Most people walk like their hips are fused together. Here's the one exercise that actually addresses why, and how to do it without face-planting.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Cast Iron Is Not Precious. Stop Treating It Like a Wedding Gift.
Your grandmother's cast iron skillet doesn't need babying—it needs cooking. Here's how to use it the way it was meant to be used, and why that crusty seasoning is actually a feature, not a bug.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Skip the State Capital, Drive Straight to the County Seat Nobody's Heard Of
Most people zoom past on the interstate toward somewhere "important." That's exactly why the small courthouse towns in the middle of nowhere are actually worth your time.
Friday, June 26, 2026
How to Cut Perfect Dovetails With a Handsaw You Can Afford
Dovetail joints look impossible until you realize they're just careful sawing and a little geometry. Here's how to cut them without spending a fortune on fancy tools.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Fall Stripers Are Stupid Right Now — Here's Why That's About to End
October's got the striped bass biting like they just discovered food for the first time, but the clock is ticking. Learn what's working before the bite goes cold.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Hoh Rainforest Loop Isn't Actually That Mystical—But the Elk Droppings Tell an Amazing Story
Olympic National Park's most famous walk feels crowded and tame until you realize what you're actually looking at—and why the moss smells like a basement after a pipe bursts.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Live Music Venue Death Spiral Is Real and We're All Pretending It Isn't
Ticket prices have become unhinged, parking costs more than your drink, and somehow the opener is still going on at 11 p.m. — but sure, let's keep acting like concert culture is thriving.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Brutalist Is Three Hours of Watching Someone Else's Expensive Dream, and I'm Furious About How Much I Loved It
Brady Corbet's maximalist mansion opera shouldn't work. It's bloated, pretentious, and forces you to sit through an intermission like it's 1987. I'm still thinking about it three days later, which means it won.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Museum Gift Shop Is Where Culture Goes to Die (And We're All Complicit)
I bought a $34 tote bag with a Rothko painting on it last week and I'm still not over it.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Sad Girl Summer We Didn't Order—And Why It's Actually the Most Honest Trend of 2024
Everyone's pretending to have fun on vacation while secretly doom-scrolling at 2 a.m. Finally, we're admitting it. Here's why that matters.
Friday, June 26, 2026
I Quit My Job for a "Passion Project" and Now I'm Terrified (And Broke)
Three months into going solo, a reader is facing the hard truth: inspiration doesn't pay rent, and nobody told them about taxes.
Friday, June 26, 2026
My Partner Won't Stop Texting His Ex, and He Says I'm Controlling
He claims it's "just friendship," but she's texting him at midnight asking how he's doing. Here's what Darla thinks about that.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Gym Selfie Problem: When Showing Progress Becomes Hiding Pain
A reader is posting workout photos to stay motivated—but his wife thinks he's seeking validation from strangers. He might be doing both, and that's worth examining.
Friday, June 26, 2026
My Kid Chose Community College Over a "Real" University. Why Do I Feel Like She Failed?
A parent wrestles with shame over their daughter's sensible choice—and learns that prestige anxiety says more about them than about her future.
Friday, June 26, 2026
I'm 34 and My Mom Still Pays My Phone Bill—When Do I Grow Up?
A reader confesses to a dependency that's costing him thousands and his self-respect. We talk about why shame is keeping him broke, and what actually needs to change.
Friday, June 26, 2026
I Bought Real Estate to "Build Wealth" but I'm Actually Just Broke With a Mortgage
A reader admits she overstretched on a rental property to seem smart, and now she's eating ramen while waiting for appreciation. Here's what she should do instead.
Friday, June 26, 2026
My Kid's Teacher Says He's "Spirited." I Think She Means He's a Monster.
When your eight-year-old gets sent home for the third time this month, it's time to stop blaming the school and start looking in the mirror.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Fed Just Admitted It Screwed Up the Math, and Nobody Noticed
Inflation data revisions reveal the central bank has been fighting a phantom — one that never existed at the scale they claimed. Here's why that matters for your wallet.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Silent Treatment Backfired—Now I Don't Know How to Stop
She gave him the cold shoulder to punish him. It worked. Too well. Now three weeks in, she can't figure out how to talk to him again without looking like the bad guy.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Dangerous Beauty of Quitting at the Right Moment
We're obsessed with persistence, but history's most interesting people knew something we've forgotten: sometimes the bravest thing you can do is stop.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Why the Volta Is the Most Underrated Weapon in Poetry
Every great poem has a secret hinge—a moment where everything pivots. Learn to spot it, and you'll understand why some poems haunt you for years.
Friday, June 26, 2026
The Breath Pause: Why Three Seconds Changes Everything
You already know to breathe deeply. Here's what actually happens when you do it right—and why most people are doing it wrong.
Friday, June 26, 2026